FACEPALM wrote:sorry for being extremely ignorant but if you sell/ cash in where does that money come from? Like can the facebook guys REALLY sell out for a billion dollars ?

No, they cannot.

Cryptocurrency isn't really a "currency" at the moment because it lacks "real" liquidity, ie the ability to spend it. The volatility isn't helping that either. Right now, it's pretty much just a thing people believe has value and the price is being driven up by both real (that there is a limited number of blockchains in existence and there will be a cap of the total number) and false (that people like the winklevi and corps are hoarding them) scarcity. If it remains just a thing you can buy drugs and hitmen with but not things like videogames(valve) or food, the market will crash when someone with a stockpile gets overleveraged or just runs into trouble elsewhere in their portfolio and is forced to sell a large chunk for something that does have liquidity(ie cash). Without a real backer or regulation, that could turn your bitcoin from a civic into a pet rock(or beanie BAYBAYYYYYY) before you can cash it out.

That's not to say it'll never be a currency, and the ability to spend it should theoretically make it more stable with a real world value. That'll depend on a bunch of unforeseeable actions and events, probably including things like groups of world banks agreeing to recognize it together or Amazon or Ali Baba backing it as a corporate currency.

WSJ and BBC have some interesting coverage on cc that worth looking through.

That was a great question and thanks for the comprehensive response.

You seem to have a better understanding of this than me, and I understand they couldn't cash that all out at once, but what would stop them from moving their holdings into a Coinbase (Or any other exchange) wallet and exchanging it for USD on there over time? I understand this is super risky because of the volatility but in theory woudln't they be able to do it?

I know the fees would be insane, but if you're cashing out a billion dollars of something I doubt a few million in fees is much of a deterrent.

This is where things get really hazy, both my understanding and actual market mechanics.

Judging by this, https://www.coinbase.com/legal/licenses , coinbase probably works the same way as a brokerage firm. In that it has a stock of coins sitting around at any given moment, enough to deal with small transactions of buying and selling at any given moment but not enough for any real power moves.

https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/exchanges/coinbase/ says a verified member can buy up to 50k. That's like 3.5 whole coins. I didn't dig too hard but I'm sure there's fine print about how much you can sell in a day as well, so coinbase isn't left holding the bag in a rush. Even if you could sell 100k a day...

I dunno how other wallets/marketplaces but I imagine it's the same, which sort of reminds me of a sportsbook. But yeah, AIUI, people like the Winklevi would have to find a special buyer turn their bitcoins into cash of any sum that would actually matter to them. The outcome of that would depend on who buys it.

FACEPALM wrote:sorry for being extremely ignorant but if you sell/ cash in where does that money come from? Like can the facebook guys REALLY sell out for a billion dollars ?

No, they cannot.

Cryptocurrency isn't really a "currency" at the moment because it lacks "real" liquidity, ie the ability to spend it. The volatility isn't helping that either. Right now, it's pretty much just a thing people believe has value and the price is being driven up by both real (that there is a limited number of blockchains in existence and there will be a cap of the total number) and false (that people like the winklevi and corps are hoarding them) scarcity. If it remains just a thing you can buy drugs and hitmen with but not things like videogames(valve) or food, the market will crash when someone with a stockpile gets overleveraged or just runs into trouble elsewhere in their portfolio and is forced to sell a large chunk for something that does have liquidity(ie cash). Without a real backer or regulation, that could turn your bitcoin from a civic into a pet rock(or beanie BAYBAYYYYYY) before you can cash it out.

That's not to say it'll never be a currency, and the ability to spend it should theoretically make it more stable with a real world value. That'll depend on a bunch of unforeseeable actions and events, probably including things like groups of world banks agreeing to recognize it together or Amazon or Ali Baba backing it as a corporate currency.

WSJ and BBC have some interesting coverage on cc that worth looking through.

That was a great question and thanks for the comprehensive response.

You seem to have a better understanding of this than me, and I understand they couldn't cash that all out at once, but what would stop them from moving their holdings into a Coinbase (Or any other exchange) wallet and exchanging it for USD on there over time? I understand this is super risky because of the volatility but in theory woudln't they be able to do it?

I know the fees would be insane, but if you're cashing out a billion dollars of something I doubt a few million in fees is much of a deterrent.

This is where things get really hazy, both my understanding and actual market mechanics.

Judging by this, https://www.coinbase.com/legal/licenses , coinbase probably works the same way as a brokerage firm. In that it has a stock of coins sitting around at any given moment, enough to deal with small transactions of buying and selling at any given moment but not enough for any real power moves.

https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/exchanges/coinbase/ says a verified member can buy up to 50k. That's like 3.5 whole coins. I didn't dig too hard but I'm sure there's fine print about how much you can sell in a day as well, so coinbase isn't left holding the bag in a rush. Even if you could sell 100k a day...

I dunno how other wallets/marketplaces but I imagine it's the same, which sort of reminds me of a sportsbook. But yeah, AIUI, people like the Winklevi would have to find a special buyer turn their bitcoins into cash of any sum that would actually matter to them. The outcome of that would depend on who buys it.

just a few months ago a guy sold all his ethereum worth millions, he crashed the market and coinbase but still made out with his money. yeah its ethereum but im pretty sure you can definitely sell all your bitcoin and cash out. you may crash the market and its not adivised to do it in one transaction but it can be done

Yeah I really want to hold out until at least Sunday and we'll see how these BTC futures affect everything. I want more ETH but I want it <$400. As much as I want some of BTC's wild ride I think I'll have to wait and see how the next week or so shakes out.

I've been really researching XRP (Ripple) its sticking around $0.22-$0.25 but Ive been reading that its set to start growing in the next year. I'm still doing a lot of cryptocurrency research before jumping in however.

I'd have had dozens of dollars in profit if my original purchase had gone through. So hypothetically, yes, I would have sent you a pizza bought with my windfall (sorry, it would have been Pappy Johnny's).

bolster315 wrote:I've been really researching XRP (Ripple) its sticking around $0.22-$0.25 but Ive been reading that its set to start growing in the next year. I'm still doing a lot of cryptocurrency research before jumping in however.

I bought about 55 bucks in Ripple the other day, read it was gonna at least get to 3-5 bucks next year

coinbase and gdex are going to have them soon. localbitcoin might have it? bittrex has it along with 190 other ones. I haven't personally bought any yet because im moving soon and really cant afford it

altcoins are all a total crapshoot. Every week there's all this buzz about one blowing up in the near future. It was Digibyte for a while, then Ripple, then BAT, then OMG, now it seems like it's Ripple again even though there's a trillion in circulation.